Dream Big, wherever yOu’re gOing!

Here at O-Venture we are huge fans of Big—big plans, big thoughts, and big dreams. The truth is that our company exists as it is today only because we didn’t know enough to put any limits on the scope or the size of the dreams we had for it.

Maybe that’s why this wOnderful book speaks to us. We are honored to feature on the blog today Dream Big, a mOst beautiful story written by our dear friend Kat Kronenberg. The book is about, as Kat describes it, “the power of a smile to change someone’s life.” Not only is the book inspiring, but Kat’s journey in writing this book is all about inspiration, determination, and what can happen when we “believe in ourselves and our dreams.”

As we approach this time of change, new beginnings and endings, Kat’s sweet message rings especially true. Kat was kind enough to talk to us about Dream Big and how it started with, as she describes it, “a whack in the head.”

O: What inspired you to write this book?

Kat: 11 years ago now, I was at the Symphony with my husband when out of the blue I was whacked in the head with the thought that I was meant to write a kid’s book about the power of a smile to change someone’s life. It hit me that this story would help empower kids to live their best lives! I firmly believe that Dream Big was a story that wanted to be told and was looking for someone to write it.

O: The idea for Dream Big came to you 11 years ago, but you took your time with the story up until it was published in January 2017! How did you know it was done?

Kat: At first, I kind of ran from that initial epiphany. Life got in the way, family, and things that I went through kept giving the story more and different layers. I experienced great loss- I lost two siblings young, and during the creative process of writing this story lost both my parents. That heartache wound itself into the story and this story became almost a form of prayer for me. I love to paraphrase something that Picasso said: essentially, “nothing is ever finished”. The story has evolved as a living, breathing organism.

O: With summer coming to an end and many of us preparing for new stages of life, change and new beginnings, what advice do you have for those of us who are at a crossroads?

Kat: I wrote hundreds of different versions of the story over the years as things happened in my life, both good and bad. For me, “Smile big in who you are” means: get to know yourself, be empowered to live your best life, and keep going. Because you CAN! “Whoosh! Wham! You can be anything!” Don’t we all need to hear that, and believe it, wherever we’re going? It’s like the lines in the song Baboon and his friends wrote for Termite: “Clap ‘I can’ and dare believe/ Dreams come true for you and me/ We will wish upon our star/ Guiding us we will go far!”

Whether for ourselves, or for those we lOve the mOst, let’s keep Our dreams as big as we can grOw them! Thanks, Kat, for reminding us of that! xOxO